1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tobacco harvesting. More particularly, it relates to a tobacco spearing operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art manual burley tobacco plant spearing devices operated behind a tractor are primarily one or two-man operations which employ only one or two spear holders and are extremely slow-going. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,002 concerns a stick holder which mounts a stick in a stationary position suitable for spearing tobacco stalks thereon. Middleton U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,607 involves a disappearing-type spear-gripping system with jaw-sets which alternately reciprocate from a shielded retracted position to spear-gripping position and back. King U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,935 provides a stickholder positioned on a trailer behind a tractor in which a person places a stick and spears tobacco stalks thereon. Floyd et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,167,190 has to do with a rotating stick holder conveyor for securing darkfire tobacco leaves stripped from stalks on sticks.